there is nothing she could not have handled. >> when she first did it to testify, let me tell you, those senators were afraid of her, because they knew she knew more about the subject matter than they even did. so there is no fear coming from this woman. again, she accepted, as kathleen parker pointed out, from the beginning she accepted accountability. it is really strange, fox news can dish it out, they sure can't admit when they're wrong. >> that is the other idea of her testimony, she began saying i'm responsible, that is how she began it. now what do you want to catch her on? >> of course, john bolton, also said about the benghazi flu.

>> fiscal cliff hangover, let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm michael smerconish in for chris matthews. leading off tonight, did anyone really win in the fiscal cliff standoff? on one hand it marks the end of the reagan revolution. after all republicans voted to we're back. raise taxes for the first time in decades. doctors say they're confident secretary of state hillary clinton will fully recover from a blood clot found on sunday on the other hand, the deal between her brain and skull. while she spent time out of the could be seen as a big victory public eye recuperating from for george w. bush whose effects of a fall last month, she endured criticism from signature tax cuts are now conservative critics who permanent for the vast majority suggested before sunday that she was faking illness to avoid of americans. questions about the deaths of four americans in benghazi. here's a taste of what they've had to say. >> i'm not a doctor, but it seems as though that the the winners and losers at the secretary of state has come down top of the show tonight. with a case of benghazi flu. >> apparently she's suffered from acute benghazi allergy and what about progressives? which causes lightheadedness when she hears the word some are upset with the deal benghazi. >> when you don't want to go to they say president obama gave a meeting or conference or event, you have a diplomatic too much away. illness. and this is a diplomatic illness to beat the band. i mean, i certainly hope it's that he should have used his nothing serious, but this was revealed in a way that i think re-election victory to hammer was not transparent. opponents. >> this is a duck and cover, let's be honest. and the clintons are great at this. >> how could she get a we'll get a critique from left. concussion when she's been ducking everything? >> joan walsh from salon and lauren ashburnn is a reporter at "the daily beast." also the one guy you don't what is this twisted thought that they're spreading? >> well, they think she's faking

want to be is john boehner. an accusation is what they're spreading -- faking an illness. it's what you would hurl at a he's under fire from both third grader. i don't understand making fun of someone who is sick. democrats and republicans for it's not human behavior that is christian or right at all. >> once the seriousness of not helping victims of sandy. secretary clinton's condition was revealed this week, john bolton was asked again whether plus secretary of state he believes she's been away for health reasons. take a look at what he had to hillary clinton is expected to say. >> do you believe now the explanation that she's being treated for a blood clot in a make a full recovery after new york city hospital? or do you continue to believe that there is some sort of an suffering a blood clot near her effort here to prevent her from having to testify fully about what she knows about benghazi? >> i didn't think that was the brain. so much for her critics on the effort to begin with. i think they're trying to walk a fine line that does not affect far right who suggested she was the potential presidential candidate that we expect. >> joan walsh, dissect what you just heard in both of his clips. faking being sick to avoid >> oh my god, michael. testifying about benghazi. i would like to help lauren out and let me finish with the here. i think it's obvious. reason it's hard to avoid a it's not mysterious at all what fiscal cliff. they're doing. we begin with whether anyone this is kind of a continuation really won in the fiscal cliff of clinton derangement syndrome. standoff. howard fineman is the director let's say it's birtherism crossed with the old clinton for "the huffington post" media chronicles like vince foster was group, steven walsh with "the murdered. >> right, right. wall street journal." >> these wingnut, these wingnuts let's look at who came out the have been assailing our popular winner on this fight. democratic presidents going back on the right there's some significant disagreement. to bill clinton, and now you've here's what bill kristol wrote got a wingnut trifecta. so you get to smear former just before the house vote.

president clinton, the current quote, politically republicans popular president, barack obama, are escaping with a better and the possible future outcome than they might have president, hillary clinton. expected. and president obama has gotten they're like pigs in whatever, relatively little at his moment mud. >> is it driven by those of greatest strength. concerns, meaning the concerns then there's conservative of the folks you just saw on commentator charles krauthammer. that b roll about 2016 and her >> in the house who hate the prospects? >> of course it is. bill and for good reason. i think they hate her now. i mean, this is a complete they're afraid of her. they don't want to have to run surrender on everything. >> so that's charles against a hillary who has been a krauthammer. who won this thing? very popular secretary of state, >> i agree with the basic a very popular senator, who has premise it was a push all the run as first lady. way around. and no matter what your politics first of all, let me say that as are, she has done a good job for far as the average working the country. person is concerned, this really and i think while she didn't run as well as she could have in wasn't a victory at all. the payroll taxes go back up. 2008, she would be a formidable and this wasn't really a opponent. >> no doubt. and even before we should point job-creating bill of any kind. out, even before secretary so that should be said. clinton suffered these injuries, what we're really talking about republicans were already worried here is politics. who won politically inside the about her potential 2016 beltway. prospects. here is newt gingrich on "meet

and i think you have to say that the press" in early december. the president came out marginally ahead. >> if their competitor in '16 is first of all, chaos could have going to be hillary clinton, been worse. supported by bill clinton and even though he tried to blame presumably a still relatively congress, he's our president. popular president barack obama, and that's where the buck stops trying to win that will be truly politically. if he couldn't have gotten a the super bowl. and the republican party today bipartisan deal and this was in is incapable of competing at the end, again the questions that level. >> and certainly the republican would have arisen. you came here saying you could party hasn't helped itself since reach bipartisanship and break newt gingrich said what he said. joan walsh? gridlock and change the tone of >> no. she is a very, very formidable washington. you just got re-elected by 51% candidate. you and i both know that there and you couldn't do it. is an element in here where in terms of that political let's say the craziness has disaster, the president won. really been on the far right. the stock market went up 300 john bolton is not a mainstream points today. figure in any way. i give it to him on points. although i guess president obama >> steven, are we all losers tried to make him one. where a self-imposed land mine however, i would like to see, is relieved only by a decision you know, kathleen parker had a great piece in the "washington to increase taxes on the upper post" this morning. calling these people out for 2%? in other words, all of that their craziness. i'd like to see more mainstream systemic change, all of those republicans do the same, because

the more this is gossiped about simpson bowles-like notions have and talked about, the more it at least temporarily fallen by can metastasize so well, we don't really know. the wayside. >> i agree with that. we're not saying that's what she for the economy this was a did. but blah, blah, blah. disaster. raising capital gains taxes and this is a cloud hanging over her candidacy. >> joan, i think it's a problem dividend taxes makes no sense. not just with conservatives, but i criticize people who said about bush 41 that he should die in fact, the president gave a a miserable death when he was in the icu. press conference last night i think this is a culture of anger. where he said what we need now >> who said that? >> it was on twitter. all over twitter. in the future is more >> i'm sorry, lauren, i can't agree with you. investment. these people are going on fox and we just had this giant news and saying that. did you have any liberals going on msnbc and saying we hope -- increase -- tax increase on it's unthinkable. i can't even repeat something investment. like that. that's the kind of false, false but i think the democrats who were kind of thumping their equivalents that so many mainstream reporters fall into. which is why we're in the mess chests now and saying we won we are in today. people won't call out the far right for its extremism. have to realize that tax >> the final word i think is increases are done. this is it. we're in a culture right now, there aren't going to be any especially a political one driven by the media where both more tax increases from this -- sides are very nasty. and in this case in particular, certainly from this house of i wrote a piece in the daily beast that said people have to representatives. and that means that you got a stop the hillary hating, especially when she is sick. >> incivility is out of control. real question of where the thank you, both. revenues are going to come from thank you, joan walsh. thank you, lauren ashburn. to fund all of the government we appreciate you being here. spending that president obama >> thanks.

>> when we return, the big wants to do, because the truth reason it's become so difficult is it's still -- it's still true for congress to cut a deal. you're watching "hardball," the that most of the income in this place for politics. country is in the hands of the but your erectile dysfunction - great middle class. you know, that could be a question of blood flow. >> the way you just voiced that cialis tadalafil for daily use makes -- lends credence to the helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. fact that this is a tax increase you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. to some. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet grover norquist gave his blessing to the deal and approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph, justified it by saying like needing to go frequently or urgently. republicans didn't technically tell your doctor about all raise taxes since the bush tax your medical conditions and medications, and ask if your heart is healthy enough cuts expired on january 1st. for sexual activity. he was on with our andrea do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, mitchell today. as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. look at what he had to say. >> no republican voted for tax do not drink alcohol in excess with cialis. increase. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, what happened was obama had the delayed backache or muscle ache. damocles over the people with to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help the tax increase over the next for an erection lasting more than four hours. decade that would happen if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, automatically. the republicans are quite clear. or if you have any allergic reactions they want the tax cuts extended such as rash, hives, swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, for everyone. or difficulty breathing or swallowing, the president insisted on taking stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. them away from some people.

that'll hurt the economy. ask your doctor about cialis for daily use he got his tax increase, but he and a 30-tablet free trial. can't claim republican fingerprints on his tax increase. >> well, wait a second. are you flo? yes. is this the thing you gave my husband? i mean, we're not living in the well, yeah, yes. the "name your price" tool. alice in wonderland world here. you tell us the price you want to pay, there is a tax increase for and we give you a range of options to choose from. wealthier americans. careful, though -- that kind of power can go to your head. it's literally a tax increase. that explains a lot. >> well, first of all -- yo, buddy! >> rates are up. >> what happened yesterday was i got this. all the tax rates went up and then the republicans and gimme one, gimme one, gimme one! congress together took them down the power of the "name your price" tool. for some people, not for only from progressive. everybody. >> steven, does that pass the smell test? if i were to run against a republican who voted for whatever it is they just voted on and i said in 2014 my opponent voted for a tax increase, would i not be literally correct? >> you know, there are a lot of conservatives that are grousing today. a lot of them saying republicans

should have held out and tried to get a better deal. try to get even fewer americans effected by the tax increase. it is a tax increase, but the question i would pose to you two is what else could the republicans do? i mean, if we went over the cliff, the stock market probably would have gone down another 300 or 400 points, republicans would have been blamed for that. they were playing a lousy hand to begin with. i guess my view is this may have been close to the best outcome that republicans could have gotten given the fact the president won the election and all the taxes were going up. >> howard, let me talk to you about the dissension on the right. look at what eric eriksson wrote about the republican leadership in washington. quote, the establishment in d.c. should be burned to the ground and salt on the remains.

republican establishment in washington are going to need to look elsewhere for the savior of their party. boehner and mcconnell have declared they will survive. their party? they don't really care. what's going to come of the gop? >> i which he would be more forthright and candid in his views. he might be able to get a position on the wall street journal editorial page. i think there are two types of people who call them nominally republicans. there is the mcconnell/boehner type. they're a little older, little more establishment. they're more used to occasionally making deals. they actually like to legislate. they think legislating is somehow a good idea. most of the tea party people, let me finish tonight with most of the people that eric was this question. why was it so difficult to avoid speaking for there, they're not the fiscal cliff, especially here to legislate. where in the end we didn't even they're here to remonstrate.

get a grand bargain. they're here to make a point. we got a quick fix. that is a question i'm sure they're here as outsiders who voters who have been clamoring intend to stay outsiders and put for compromise would like as many sticks in the spokes of answered. nate silver had a partial government as they can. response in a recent 538 blog that is consistent with their post. silver noted that where in 1992 philosophy. that's what they want to do. there were 103 members of the that's the sentiment eric is house who were elected from what expressing there. might be regarded as swing there is a real conflict. districts, which he identified the interesting thing to see is as those were the margin in the whether -- and i think it's presidential vote was within 5 correct. that somehow despite all the percentage points, today silver abuse even though he tries to calculates that number is just screw things up, john boehner 35. think about it. it means that 400 of 435 races will probably be re-elected speaker. which in a way for the tea party are virtually predetermined by party affiliation. people is good. and as competitive districts they want to keep railing against the insiders. have diminished, landslide if they put one of their own in districts where the presidential as speaker, then that person margin deviated by at least 20 will have to make deals and they points from the national result, don't want it to be. they have roughly doubled in the >> you can't have it both ways. same period. the point is that members of >> which side would you want to congress who are elected in be going forward? hyper partisan districts have no

the president surrendered his incentive to compromise. leverage i take you mean coming i think that's a true explanation as far as it goes. out of the campaign and the opposition here faced by the gop, the prospect better stated was that everybody's taxes could go up. okay. so the president has played his hand. who do you think now has the leverage going forward? >> look, i really do think republicans -- i don't know if they have the leverage, but they're on higher ground now than they were three days ago. because they will be able to say with great credibility over the next year and obviously this budget debate is just starting, not ending. that the president got his pound of flesh out of rich people. he goes his tax increase on the rich. now we got to talk about the spending side of the equation. i think obviously the next big fight will be over the debt

ceiling. i don't know if republicans will play that card or not. but the president will be hard pressed to argue for more taxes when he just had two tax increases. he had the obama care tax increase which starts today and the tax increase on the fiscal cliff deal. so i think the democrats are not in as strong a position as they think they are. >> politico this morning had a dramatic account of an exchange last week in the white house between john boehner and harry reid. this happened before the deal had been reached, i should point out. according to politico, boehner had strong words for the senate majority leader quote, go f yourself boehner. as he pointed his finger at reid. reid a bit startled replied what are you talking about and boehner then repeated it. go f yourself. they didn't cut the deal.

in the end it was vice president biden and the senate majority leader. what does this say about the inability to work together? >> i also like the fact according to that story that boehner then went around bragging to everybody he said that to reid. i think they were both at the bottom of the food chain here of decision makers. they were fighting at the bottom of the chain while mitch mcconnell and joe biden were putting together the deal. i think both boehner and reid in a way were powerless in this decision for obvious reasons. and they -- the white house -- i was told by david plouffe a month ago that he much rather would prefer to work with mcconnell than boehner. mcconnell knows how to play chess, boehner doesn't. >> he got his wish. >> and when i talked to the republican senators they said the same thing about harry reid. that's why biden was brought in. i don't know if this story is true. i don't know if john boehner said what's been reported by politico. but if it is true, there's no question about is the animosity between these two sides. it's greater than i've seen in the years i've been here. these two guys really hate each other. >> thank you very much. >> thanks. >> thank you. coming up, why some of the left are unhappy with the fiscal cliff deal. we're go the deal. this is "hard for politic

the two men whose names have become synonymous with fix the country's fiscal problems are calling the fiscal cliff a missed opportunity. the cochairs of the president's commission on deficit reduction released a statement saying in part, the deal approved today is truly a missed opportunity to do something big to reduce our long-term fiscal problems. but it's a small step forward in our efforts to reduce the federal deficit. washington missed this magic moment to do something big to reduce the deficit, reform our tax code, and fix our entitlement programs. we'll be right back.

bloonk blank welcome back to "hardball." columnist charles krauthammer called this week's bipartisan plan by the democrats. but it's not just conservatives displeased with this deal. on monday night the progressive group go on trashed the deal. and richard trumka tweeted we can't destabilizing hostage taking from rs in the form of another debt ceiling crisis. and worried about their future bargaining leverage when it comes to time to debate the debt limit and sequester again. >> this proposal represents the absolute least we could have done under these circumstances and tragically institutionalizes for the next congress the short-term frenzy around self-inflected deadlines. >> we will look back on this night and regret it. >> one of the democrats who voted no is virginia congressman jim moran who's with me now. thank you for being here. charles krauthammer said on the right this was a route for the ds. you disagree. >> normally when the far right and far left are in agreement,

the middle makes the most sense. but not in this case. i think this is a very bad long-term deal for democratic priorities and thus for the president. because what we did was to take $3.9 trillion off the table permanently and set up three more fiscal cliffs over the next three months. the sequester, the debt ceiling, then the expiration of the appropriations bills. which will happen in march. and what it does is to say we will never bring in more than 15% of gdp. but we have never had a robust economy when federal spending wasn't about 20% of gdp. because you need that investment in research and innovation and education and skills training and so on. and what's going to happen is that interest on the debt is going to be greater than any of

the programs that provide that kind of seed corn investment in our children's future. so that's what we did last night. we concretized revenue as an extraordinarily low rate. a rate you'd have to go back to before medicare and social security, before the baby boom generation came into adulthood. and before the rest of the world started growing competitive to the u.s. economy. >> congressman, last night president obama warned republicans not to try to turn raising the debt ceiling into a fight for cutting spending. take a look at what he had to say. >> while i will negotiate over many things, i will not have another debate with this congress over whether or not they should pay the bills that they have already racked up through the laws that they passed. let me repeat. we can't not pay bills that we've already incurred. >> what leverage does the white

house have left if they've already now played the card on the precipice of the fiscal cliff with the election result at their back. why now going forward would they have the leverage to entertain some type of a grand bargain or to not have to negotiate over the fiscal -- the debt ceiling limitation. >> the answer is none, michael. when i heard the president said that, i thought good luck with that. >> right. >> the one thing that this republican-dominated congress has proven over the last four years that it can do is nothing. but we had two points of leverage. they had to deal with the sequester and they had to deal with things like the estate tax and upper -- and taxes on the wealthiest. so we gave away those two face cards, if you will. i don't think we got anything in return that's going to matter over the long-term because we

set ourselves up for situation where the only questions being asked is what programs are we going to cut and how deeply. i don't think that the majority in the house leadership really cares that much about the full faith -- i shouldn't say the leadership, but in the majority of house republicans care about jeopardizing the full faith and credit of the government. some of them are almost giddy when we went into the crisis last year. and certainly they have no intention of postponing this sequester. which is going to cause real damage to federal programs and the federal workforce. so i think the democrats are in for a real tough time without much leverage in these negotiations. that's my concern. >> understood. >> i want them to have a legacy that he could be proud of and that is going to enable us to provide a better life for our

children and grandchildren than we inherited from our parents. and i doubt that can be done with the diminished resources that we voted for last night. >> congressman jim moran, thank you for your time, sir. we appreciate it. >> sure. david corn of mother jones is a msnbc political analyst. happy new year. good to see you. could john boehner and president obama, could they cut a deal between the two of them? i ask that question because there's a perception out there that i happen to share that those two men in the room could cut a deal. whether they could keep their constituencies in line for that deal is another question. >> if you look at the last year and a half and go back to the first debt ceiling fight, that the president is far more able to get the vote he needs for a compromise from his side than john boehner is. john boehner going back a year

and a half couldn't get his own people to support a budget plan going forward. and this time they didn't support plan "b." couldn't even bring it up for a vote. and last night he didn't even bother speaking in favor of the bill which he did support. while the rest of his leadership was against it. so i think john boehner is sort of speaker in name only. call him a spino instead of rhino. and he can't speak for his caucus so he can't cut a deal. which is why the white house -- biden did this with speaking for the president ended up cutting a deal with mitch mcconnell. >> what i'm suggesting is it's not necessarily speaker boehner's shortcoming. i don't know anyone could debate on behalf of the republicans in the house and deliver the votes. >> i'm not saying -- well, speaker boehner is obviously not superman. and he's been very weak. but the way he has viewed his

role as a leader here has been really the tout of the tea party folks. and he's not been able to find a way to persuade him to follow them. it may be that that's an impossible task. >> you heard a moment ago congressman moran who voted against this last night and i sense frustration in his voice which i share. because this band-aid that was applied doesn't seem to provide any of the systemic change that's necessary to put us on a long-term path. can you give a more optimistic take? >> well, i compare this to the 2010 tax deal in which -- where president barack obama got a second stimulus in return for giving the tax break on the wealthy. the big win here is he did get a lot of republicans to support his basic conception that taxes have to go up on the rich in order for things to be fair and in order to generate more revenue so we can deal with the

deficit and continue investments and things we need to invest in education, innovation, and the like. he didn't get enough revenue with this deal. he gave on that, you know, $250,000 limit. went up to $450,000. >> i guess it's going to be harder to get more revenue with spending cuts in the next go around. i'm out of time. new year, new laws. while the rest of us were celebrating 2013, some whacky new laws have gone in effect around the country. stick around for the sideshow. and if you want to follow me on twitter, just figure out how to spell smerconish. this is "hardball," the place for politics.

back to "hardball." now to the sideshow. when the clock struck midnight on december 31st, new laws went into effect in several states. some of them seemed they were yanked from the onion. here goes. if the live in kentucky and happen to be playing host to a wild hog, say hello to your

permanent household pet. it's now against the law in kentucky to release a feral hog or wild hog as they're known back into the wild. and to kansas, the whole concept of a crazy cat lady just became obsolete. no more than four cats per household are allowed in the state of kansas. north carolina is cracking down on slippery fingers. literally. stealing unused cooking oil is now classified as a misdemeanor. finally driverless vehicles got the green light to hit the road in california. but don't get too excited. self-driving cars are still in the testing phase and someone must be in the passenger seat. next from high school to the house. house republicans were by no means united in favor of the fiscal cliff deal. speaker boehner wanted it past but eric cantor was against it. it turns out the tension goes a lot farther back for two other members of the caucus.

it starts with darrell issa who voted against the fiscal cliff. >> i'm with eric cantor. i can't vote for it in its current form. the senate and the president and vice president failed to meet their obligation. their own stated obligation which was to bring us a balanced bill. one that had tax adjustment, yes. but also had spending cuts. this one fails at that and fails badly. >> so enter ohio republican steve latourette who wasn't jazzed but took the plunge and voted yes. >> i went to the same high school as congressman issa but we haven't agreed on much since. >> did you agree in high school? >> i didn't see him a lot in class, so i don't know. >> somehow i doubt they'll show up together at the reunion. one point of agreement, both congressmen suggested that new year's eve was partially to blame for what the senate put together.

>> i think it's a little unreasonable for senator reid to say something they produced on new year's eve by a bunch of doctrinarians is what we should vote on. >> all that partying own revelry and drinking that goes on on new year's eve at 2:00 in the morning. >> are you suggesting mitch mcconnell and the others in the senate were a little bit drunk when they voted on this last night? >> of course not. i was having a lit bit of fun with you. it was after midnight. it was a piece of legislation that was intended to be passable, not necessarily to be right. also, the fiscal cliff taking cues from "les mis," the classic book that became a broadway smash which became a hit movie. this may be the first viral meme. politics meets broadway. i had a dream my life would be so different from this hell i'm living. or john boehner's crying at all

is not allowed. not on my castle on a cloud. and when the bill passed in the house, it's eric cantor with what a life i might have known. and the final vote tally. up next, why has it taken so long for house speaker john boehner to hold a vote on an aid package to help the victims of hurricane sandy? that's ahead. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics.

back to "hardball."

there's only one group to blame for the continued suffering of these incident victims. the house majority and their speaker john boehner. we respond to innocent victims of natural disasters not as republicans or democrats, but as americans. or at least we did. until last night. last night the house of representatives failed that most basic test of public service. and they did so with callous indifference to the suffering of the people of my state. >> welcome back to "hardball." when a politician even one as outspoken as chris christie the republican governor of new jersey trashes his own party like that, it's news. in fact, the failure of the vote on a package for hurricane sandy is one of the areas where republicans and democrats can

agree. here's what it sounded like on the floor this morning. >> we cannot believe that this cruel knife in the back was delivered to our region. >> an emergency and disaster means emergency and disaster. >> i think it's inexcusable that we did not have this vote. >> it's the most disgraceful action i've seen in this house in the 20 years i've been here. >> we've been devastated. and i would hope that the speaker would bring this to the floor as quickly as possible. >> late this afternoon we learned that speaker boehner appears to be giving some ground. the house will vote on friday on a $9 billion package, a supplemental for flood insurance. followed by a follow-up vote on january 15. jon runyon is a republican of new jersey. he joins us now. good to see you congressman. what did speaker boehner say today?

>> well, he really touched on what you said. starting it off friday with the relief on the flood insurance aspect of it. and really capping it off and taking the vote i think we all think we should have been taking this afternoon, taking that on january 15th. you know, i -- and i think what speaker boehner really said when he first sat down, he goes i know there's been a lot of frustration, a lot of anger that's been directed at me. and he goes, i own it. i deserve it. he goes -- he could kind of explain it where he didn't feel it was the right situation or he didn't like the vote count he had for the fiscal bill. which i would disagree with because like i think you just had the quote there, this is disaster. this is disaster relief. we're already 66 days into this process. you know, people are suffering. and it's about getting them the relief they need.

and it's frustrating to be able to sit here and be two years and at the end of the congress come tomorrow still making these same mistakes dragging them on instead of making the decision to move on. >> and it's also self-inflicted. at least from the outside looking in, you look at this and say of course they're going approve a superstorm sandy package of relief. why wouldn't they? and to have this delay go off the clock is a further wounding of the party. >> it is. and like you just said, michael, it's self-inflicted. i think everybody bipartisanwise would say this is going to happen. why are we delaying it? let's get it done. you've heard the rhetoric back and forth of the senate bill coming over here. and i think the -- what we have in place here in the house, we're actually going to clean that up. make it disaster related. take all the pork, take those

senate earmarks out of there. make it a clean bill and do what it's intended to do. help the people. my constituents. the residents of new jersey, new york. that's what the job is and putting this off is only going to hurt us in the long run. michael, i know you know the delaware region well. the jersey shore is a billion dollar industry. if that's not close to up and running when it comes spring and summertime, that's going to take a hit. >> let me ask a question about your governor. soon chris christie will stand for re-election. and here he is so straightforwardly commenting and criticizing speaker boehner. and it comes on the heels of him appearing with president obama. i guess my question is within the party does the republican apparatus get tired of its governor stepping out of line from the typical partisan mode? >> i think what governor christie brings to the table is

what the american people look for. someone who shoots straight. if you hold people accountable, that's what needs to be done. accountability at the end of the day is what everyone's frustrated about. that's why i ran. that's why i got involved. it's here every day trying to kick somebody in the seat of the pants just to do their job and take care of their constituents. >> got it. thank you very much. >> thank you. joining me now democratic congressman from new york joe crowley. congressman crowley, is any of this rooted in a bias against the northeast? i ask you that because the associated press reports that new york congressman peter king sees a regional bias in the sandy aid bill postponement. he said quote, some republicans have a double standard when it comes to providing aid to new york and new jersey compared

with other regions of the country suffers disasters. somehow he said some money going to new york and new jersey is seen as corrupt. do you see it the same way? >> you know, i can only speak for my own perspective and district of the people i represent. the people in queens and bronx and new york city. people who work hard every day. get up and go to work and put their kids in school. and do that repeatedly. they love this country. they don't think of themselves as new yorkers. they think of themselves as americans. and when something like this happens in california or if it happens in texas, in florida, in the carolinas, or in kansas when the tornado hits, i don't ask are they really americans or are they kansasians? i hope that's right. or are they californians? or are they texans. i don't ask that question. i just say what can we do to help? >> yeah.

peter king noted, congressman, that $60 billion was appropriated within ten days for katrina. i think that's part of the predicate of him making that statement. >> not to make light of it, i think it's actually $64 billion in ten days was allocated towards katrina. i supported that effort as well. >> sure. >> i believe that when it comes to a disaster, people constantly ask what role does government have in my life. you know, you realize what the role of government is during a natural disaster like sandy. i don't live in the rockaways, i don't represent that area but it's where my family is from. i've seen the devastation multiple times. and these are people who don't ask for anything. they pull themselves up by their own boot straps and they get going again. but they're suffering right now. and every day that we delay -- and look, i understand what mr. boehner was going through yesterday. he had a tough vote in his conference. that wasn't fun. neither is not having power in your house. >> i understand. may i ask you this. this is being attributed to a scheduling snafu. are you aware of any organized opposition to relief for the victims of superstorm sandy? >> absolutely not. i haven't heard of any organized

effort. i heard some of my colleagues on the republican side say they'd like to give a lot less than the $60.4 billion. but we thought we had the votes that would pass the amendment to make it a $60.4 billion bill. >> thank you. appreciate your time. >> thank you. up next, hillary clinton's expected to make a full recovery after doctors discovered a blood clot near her brain. the same might not be true of her harshest critics who accused her of faking illness to avoid testifying about benghazi. that's ahead. this is "hardball," the place for politics. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso. your soups are so awesomely delicious my husband and i can't stop eating 'em! what's...that... on your head? can curlers! tomato basil, potato with bacon... we've got a lot of empty cans. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

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congress will be a woman. women won the state's two house seats in the november election. and they already held both senate seats making the granite state the first all-female congressional delegation in history. and the state's new governor is a woman. as are the state house speaker and the chief justice of the state's supreme court. overall in the united states senate, one in five members will be a woman. and women will make up nearly 18% of the new house. both are record highs for washington. we'll be right back.